Marking One Year Since October 7, Students Gather to Remember, Grieve, and Advocate for the Hostages’ Return
On college campuses in the United States, Canada, and around the world, students came together one year after the horrific October 7 attacks on Israel: to mourn, to pray, to hope, and to gain strength from one another in community. Hillels serving students at hundreds of colleges and universities took a leading role in organizing events, including vigils, marches, and art installations; all with the goal of giving Jewish students safe and supportive spaces to connect, process, and grieve.
Here are just some of the many ways Jewish college students marked one year since October 7 at Hillel.
At Boston University Hillel, Student Groups Came Together to Mourn and Remember
Boston University Students for Israel (BUSI) and Boston University Hillel held a memorial to commemorate the October 7 attacks, and to give students a space to gather in community and safety, separate from politics
“Today is to memorialize,” said Livia Prince, vice president of BUSI, according to The Daily Free Press. “For us, it’s not a political thing. It’s not the headlines. It’s more than that.”
Boston University has approximately 4,000 Jewish students, making it the largest undergraduate Jewish population at any private university, but these students weren’t alone on Monday. Students from surrounding campuses in the Boston area also attended the vigil and memorial, which featured photos of the victims, survivor testimonies, and a remembrance board where visitors could place stickers of the victims’ names.
Rutgers University Students Create Spaces for Commemoration, Grief, and Support
For Rutgers University Hillel, honoring the victims of the October 7 attacks has been an ongoing part of student programming and communal support.
Following the murder of six hostages in Gaza, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Jewish students held a vigil. They also hosted an art gallery exhibit with prints from the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, featuring remarks from survivors of the Nova Music festival, and, most recently, held a joint Jewish-Hindu yoga event in memory of murdered hostage Carmel Gat.
On the anniversary of the attacks, students also came together for events and conversations across campus. A memorial for the victims stretched from one end of Voorhees Mall to the other, and included signs, artwork, an empty Shabbat table, and ribbons for those killed, kidnapped, and released. There was also an area for writing messages on kites and planting seeds in flower pots — which symbolized students’ desires for a better future.
“We had hundreds of students attend, and the mood was both mournful and full of hope,” said Rabbi Esther Reed, chief experience officer at Rutgers Hillel. “It gave our community a chance to come together in solidarity, to mourn, and to express hope.”
“We got to pay our respects to those who were murdered, taken, and still held hostage, and those who risked their lives to protect Israel,” said Mitch Wolf (class of 2025), student president of Rutgers Hillel. “We gathered as a community to do what was right, remember everyone who was silenced and taken from us, and to show that we are united as one Jewish community on campus.”
At Stanford Hillel, Jewish and Israeli Students Honored the Victims and Hostages of October 7
Empty chairs and tables have become a symbol of commemoration for the October 7 victims and hostages. At Meyer Green, a park in Stanford University, students and community members gathered within a circle of empty chairs, each with a photo of someone missing or murdered in the October 7 attack. Holding Israeli flags and candles, students led Hebrew prayers and held moments of silence within the “Let Our People Go” exhibit, organized by Hillel at Stanford.
“The way I see the world, the pain I feel and the safety I perceive, have been irreversibly changed,” said Naama Bejerano (class of 2025), an Israeli Stanford student, according to The Stanford Daily. “I hope we can take our collective pain and come together…to support one another, to be present for those who cannot, and to continue to care for each other the way we care for ourselves.”
At UCLA, October 7 Events Included a March, a Vigil, and a Heart-wrenching Play
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) made headlines last spring when anti-Israel protesters set up illegal encampments and checkpoints at the school that restricted access to parts of campus for Jewish students..
““Our Hillel has made a point to promote dialogue and openness on our campus, something that many activists on our campus fight against as part of their problematic non-normalization campaign against Israel and Zionism,” said Dan Gold, executive director of Hillel at UCLA. “We know that the only path toward a more positive campus climate must include listening to each other and honoring the narratives we all offer.” ”
To commemorate the October 7 attacks, Jewish students at UCLA held a solidarity march around campus, as well as a vigil in Bruin Plaza attended by about 700 people. UCLA also hosted a reading of “October 7,” a play that dramatizes the accounts of survivors of the October 7 attacks, and is based on interviews with about 20 survivors of the attacks.
“I didn’t know the weight of this until we were reading it,” actor Josh Bitton told the Los Angeles Times. Bitton’s connection to the October 7 attacks is extremely personal. Three of his family members were killed and two kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri.
“It’s been an honor to be a part of this. It feels like one of the only ways I feel like I can do anything,” he said.
“This performance was a great way for our Hillel to memorialize the victims of Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on 10/7 by bringing their voices to our community and promoting their narratives and their truths of what happened that day,” added Gold.
More Than 1,000 Jewish Students at the University of Maryland Come Together
Holding candles and wearing t-shirts with the words “Never Forget 10.7.2023,” more than 1,100 people attended a vigil organized by Maryland Hillel on Monday night. Gathered outside the Hillel building, Jewish students sang, prayed, and shared words honoring those killed on October 7 and the impact the attack had on the students’ lives.
“We couldn’t just be ordinary students,” said Emma Steinhause, UMD’s Jewish Student Union vice president, quoted in The Diamondback. “We had to transform ourselves into advocates, leaders, and spokespeople for the Jewish community.”
In addition to Hillel’s vigil, Terps for Israel also hosted a memorial for the hostages, which included a display of metal chairs with the name of each hostage kidnapped on October 7, and a Shabbat table for those who died in the Hamas attack, featuring the names and faces of Americans taken hostage by Hamas.
“When we have our low moments, the only way that we can rise up is together,” said Adina Hawk, a senior whose cousin, a medic, died serving in Gaza earlier this year.
University of Wisconsin Hillel’s Vigil Commemorated the Past, and Offered Hope for the Future
On the evening of October 7, more than 600 students gathered at Library Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus to mourn the lives lost in Israel and to advocate for the hostages still in captivity. The vigil, organized by UW Hillel, included speakers from Hillel and Chabad, as well as community members and a rabbi.
“As soon as I got up to the podium and looked up, [I was] teary-eyed, completely,” said Erika Klein, a speaker at the event and an intern on the Israel Leadership Council with UW Hillel, in an interview with The Badger Herald. “It was so amazing to see how many people came out.”